City still pursuing selling water to drillers

City Manager Dave Greene, right, is shown updating members of city council about the city's attempts to sell effluent water from the wastewater treatment plant to Marcellus drillers during Monday evening's city council meeting while Mayor Sally Geyer, left, looks on. Photo by Becky Polaski.

The City of St. Marys is still pursuing selling water to companies in the Marcellus drilling industry, according to City Manager Dave Greene. Greene provided members of city council with an update on Monday evening regarding the progress the city has made in finding interested drilling companies to purchase effluent water, which has been treated and discharged from the city's wastewater treatment plant.
As of right now, Greene indicated that the city does not have any firm commitments from drilling companies planning to purchase water; however, he remarked that they are hoping to have a deal reached soon with at least one.
"Right now we're discussing the purchase of water with three different drilling companies: EOG, EQT and Hunt Marcellus" Greene said. "The one that's most serious now is EQT. He took the information and I believe he's going to go ahead and submit it to DEP to get the okay to purchase water from us."
Greene stated that he did not believe the city's water supply would be the first choice for the company and would instead serve as a backup.